My EX485/487 runs hotter in the summer so I plan on getting a USB powered cooling fan like the ones from
Coolerguys or Thermaltake. A lot of people are using them to keep their computers, servers, and electronics cooler. I'm just wondering where the best place would be to put it, in the front or the back (with air flow in that direction)?

Standard airflow on a desktop or server is front to back. Cool air is sucked in the front and warm air is blown out the back. This is why, for the last several years, the data center methodology is the concept of hot row/cold row. Walk down a cold row, and you're looking at the fronts of servers on both sides; walk down a hot row, and you're looking at the posteriors. Cold air is forced up through the floor or down from the ceiling, and this is sucked in by the servers' fans, and blown out in the hot rows.

If you put your hand in front of, and behind, your server, you'll find it warmer in the back, where the fans are.

My recommendation would be to ensure you've got good air flow in front and behind--you want the hot air coming out the back to dissipate, not hang out right next to the server. Then you could put the cooling fan in front of the server--this would suck cool air from the room and force it through the server, and the rear fans would blow it out. If the server is in a tight space, then the hot air will hang out by the server and your new fan will just recirculate the hot air through the server. So make sure that hot air has room to get away from your server!

My MSS arrangement includes an EX487 and an EX490, with a total of 12 internal SATA drives (4 are in an RSV enclosure) and 7 external USB drives. This can get quite toasty, so a nearby desk with a shelf about 5' high has a fan sitting on it pointed in the direction of the servers and drives. This does an excellent job keeping temperatures down. I've never had server temperature problems; the Seagate GoFlex Desk 2 TB drives tend to run hotter than anything, hence the need for the fan. Of course, if you've upgraded the processor, especially a quad core, you may have found the passive cooling of the server to be inadequate.

Hope this helps.

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Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

I have room for ventilation, but maybe I need even more. I will try pointing a fan it like you to keep the temps down during the summer.
You sure have a lot of drives going!
Thanks!

I plugged one of those cheapo USB fans on a bendable shaft into the front of my server after I upgrad it to a quad core... Dropped the CPU temps by 10 degrees so made a huge difference.....

Probably need to get a better quality one cause it burnt out after being on 24/7 for a few days....

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EX490 with 7TB storage